text: MLP was founded by the NIH to fund research aimed at identifying new chemical probes against biological targets that might be amenable for drug therapy. Southern Research was one of eight extramural institutes selected for this initiative along with the Broad Institute, Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute, Johns Hopkins University, Scripps Research Institute, Vanderbilt University, University of New Mexico and the University of Kansas. In addition the MLP initiative also included an NIH intramural site: the National Center for Chemical Genomics (NCGC).